The Ember's Light, an OC backstory
by Spectura
Summary: Basically, the backstory to my Warriors OC, Light. Eventual mature content. Two-Legs have gone to war. War on a GRAND scale. There is no safety, not anywhere. Disease is rampant, Two-Legs used giant iron birds to drop fire onto the city. In the midst of it, an ex-warrior queen flees her clan, and thus begins a prophecy that has been whispered about since the dawn of The Clans.
1. Chapter 1

Amidst the rubble and waste, a silver she-cat lay curled around a small litter of kits. The she-cat, named Liddy, had 4 kittens to care for during the onslaught of a two-leg war. They'd been going at it for moons on end. Liddy could not remember the last time they had been at peace. She had been known as Silverstone then. She'd been part of Fireclan, living off the land at the edge of the massive two-leg town. Her mate had been Stonestar, the clan leader. He was a gorgeous tom, with bold black spots over a golden coat, his eyes the most vibrant sapphire she'd ever seen. Her own coat, a dull chestnut with muddy, splotchy, brown stripes, had been the least attractive in the clan, and her green eyes had always gone unnoticed as well.

"Silverstone, I did not become your mate for nothing. You're beautiful as you are, you just don't see it. Your soul is beautiful, as is your personality." he would say anytime she felt bad about her coat. Eventually, her self-consciousness, as well as the words of a few jealous she-cats, drove her from the clan to hide amongst the kitty-pets. Unknowingly, she had been pregnant at the time. Now, she had kits to care for.

Although, one was born already dead. With three live kits, the last thing she needed was stress, sickness, and human war. She had to deal with all of it though, and her surviving three kittens were not faring well. Her eldest was a charcoal-grey tabby with black stripes. He seemed to be faring the best out of the three. Her second-born was a small tom with, strangely, green bengal spots over a brown pelt. Her youngest (aside from the stillborn she-kit who had been the last born) was a thin white tom with golden stripes. A soft glow was emitting from the young white and gold kitten. He was sitting awfully still, the only thing that moved was his small chest as he breathed. Liddy licked his still-damp fur, feeling a small shiver pass through his form.

All she could do was wait.

Light woke to the familiar sound of the iron-birds high above the building they were staying in. His mother's form was soothing against his back as the ground shook from the fire-rocks they dropped. Shadow, his brother, sat up next to him.

"Don't they ever quit?" he whined, turning to curl into Thorn's side. The brown-and-green kitten stretched out on his belly, looking over to his mother for answered.

"No darling," Liddy murmured, "I don't think so. At least it doesn't seem so. They might one day, not today though."

Thorn frowned, "Well they should! I'm tired!"

"I am too!" Light complained, standing on his small legs and hopping over his siblings to get closer to his mother's fur. It was warm, and long. He vanished right into it.

Well, almost. His stripes were letting out his namesake. Light. His pelt was glowing again, softly though. Liddy laughed.

"Well. Aren't you just a mouse hiding in his hole?" she teased. Light poked his head out of her pelt, grinned, and ducked back in. The young cat curled against her warm belly, trying to fall asleep. Shadow had other plans for his smaller brother though, for he quickly dived in as well and dragged him out by his furry tail. Thorn and the eldest kitten then began a game of swat-and-run over their little sibling. They would dart up close to him, smacking lightly(ish) with the flat of a paw, and flash away again. First cat to get smacked back lost the game. Light wasn't very good at this game. His legs were to short, and anytime he tried to chase after them he would always be outrun.

"Hey now you two, go easy on your brother." Liddy scolded, watching them. The fire-stones had quit falling by now.

"Mama! Can we go outside? Please, while the iron-birds aren't coming?" Thorn asked, sliding to a stop so suddenly that Light, who had been chasing him, crashed right into his green-spotted hide. The white and gold kit sat back from his brother and rubbed his nose, wincing. Liddy flicked her ear, thinking.

"Well, I don't see why not-"

"Yay!" the kits all squealed, turning to dash toward the opening of the building. Liddy was up in a flash, shoving between the kits and their destination.

"Have you lost your minds? What have I told you about just running out into the streets?! Do you want one of those crazy animals to snap you up?" she growled down at them, reminding them of the dangers of the outside world.

The Illness, also known as Black-Bite, was the latest addition to the dangers of the outside world. Really, it wasn't just outside, it was everywhere. A severe disease which eventually dragged every victim to a bloody insanity, and beyond that, an agonizing death.

Light shuddered. He'd only seen the illness at work once. During the winter moon that he'd been born, his mother had scooped them all up in her teeth and climbed up the side of a building, hiding on a windowsill. The animal had been a deer, as his mother had informed him, the usually graceful creature was wandering in a zig-zag pattern up the road with it's head held low. Blood had been running down it's muzzle, coming from it's eyes. The rest of the herd had come tearing down the road earlier that day, most likely fleeing their now sick herd-mate. Light had seen the creature wander in circles all day, occasionally stopping to chew on it's own legs, often until they bled. It left only because another deer, a male which had been hiding nearby, took a chance and dashed off, attracting the attention of the infected doe, who, in turn, flashed off after him in a bloody brown blur.

The bloody murder that had followed had given Light nightmares for days.

"S-sorry Mama…." Light mewled, sitting on his haunches with his head low, tail covering his paws. Liddy sighed, nuzzled them, and turned around to poke her head out of the shadows of the building. She looked in every direction before she nervously took a step out, fluffy brown tail rigid behind her. Liddy's green eyes scanned the empty streets around her, her expression unreadable.

After what felt like a moon of waiting, Liddy motioned her kits that it was safe, and they scampered out to swarm her feet.

3 moons passed…


	2. Chapter 2

Light opened his eyes, waking again to the familiar brown fluff that was his mother. What was not familiar though, was that she was sitting up, green eyes alert for something. Usually, she tried to not move much when her kits were asleep around her, but something had warranted enough of her attention to make her move enough to wake her kit.

"Mama? What's-" his sleepy question was cut short by his mother slapping her fluffy brown tail across his mouth. The light from his stripes dimmed slightly as he began to get nervous. Something out in the streets bumped a can, sending it rolling through the entrance. The small piece of tin knocked over a few other things, among them a rock the size of Light's skull, a chunk of rebar, and some paint cans in a noisy calamity that took nearly twelve breaths to settle.

"M-mama?" Thorn whispered, his own brown body sitting up next to her. The noise from the cans had woke his siblings, and cast them all into a pit of anxiety and restlessness.

Liddy was sitting rigid as a rock, green eyes narrowing and darkening considerably. The brown she-cat stood and crouched low, with her belly brushing the ground, and began to move forward silently. Together, the three kits watched their mother approach the entrance to the crippled twoleg nest with her body low and stiff. Her muddy brown stripes helped to hide her among the dusty stone pieces surprisingly well. Liddy paused, turning her head to the side to give him a warning glance.

 _Be quiet. Something's out there._

The brown kit lowered himself down once more, ears lowering nervously alongside his form. Light began to shiver, the white kitten's stripes glowing brighter as he subconsciously tried to warn off the unseen foe. Shadow, having a stronger sense of protection than Thorn, turned and laid himself out across Light's smaller form, hoping to use his weight as a comfort, and his black fur to hide the light coming from his runt sibling.

Liddy turned back to the entrance before her, and the small white kit could see, through his brother's fur, Liddy stiffened at what she saw. Her green eyes were as wide as possible, the whites showing on all sides.

"R-Riverstep… no..." she breathed, before turning and sprinting to her kits and scooping Thorn up in her mouth. Her form was a chestnut blur as she bounded up onto a large stone, stood on her hind legs, and threw Thorn up onto the ledge to the second floor of the twoleg nest. The mahogany she-cat turned as of on a swivel and launched down to the floor again, scooping up Shadow this time.

Light froze, completely exposed on the floor. The young tom curled in on himself, wishing he could hide in plain sight. Why?

There was a growing shadow on the floor by the entrance of the building. It was tall, and thin, and limping heavily on it's front leg. It carried a vague cat shape, sporting triangular ears and a long tail hat dragged the ground behind it.

"Carry the fire… to stones… and the bees…. The BEES! Kill 'em. The blasted _bugs_ …. Claws… fire in the head. JACK-A-BIRDS! THAT'S IT! _HAHAHAHAHA!_!" it cackled, throwing it's head back to laugh. Light could see a place in the shadow's head, right behind it's mouth, where the light shined through. He had a hole in his cheek, this creature.

By now, Liddy had just barely put Shadow up with his sibling, who had shoved himself in a small nook between two bits of rubble. As she turned, she caught sight of Riverstep, a large maine coon tom who had been a part of her clan in the forest. He was sick with Black-Bite. The massive, festering rot wound on his forepaw was painfully obvious. He was foaming at the mouth as he cackled, staring down the only living creature he could see.

 _Light._ Light was still down there, his fire-bright stripes a dead giveaway. She should have thought to grab him first. He was the most vulnerable. He was the weakest, the slowest, and the most obvious in this dark world.

Riverstep lunged, ragged claws unsheathed to their limit. Liddy swallowed, and leaped. Her claws meeting his face well before his own could make contact with her child's.

"LIGHT RUN!" she howled, her throat aching as she knew, already, that she would not win this fight. She would not survive it. To her horror, Light remained where he was, frozen in fear.

Riverstep thrashed his head back and forth, desperately trying to throw the she-cat from his head, but her claws were buried too deep in the flesh of his head. Liddy pushed her claws in deeper, hoping to break through his skull and destroy the remains of his brain. A gruesome end, but…

No different then what she would eventually face. Riverstep flung himself sideways, smashing her form against the wall.

 _"_ _GAAH! R-Riverstep, please. If there's anything left of you in there, wake up! Please!"_ she begged in vain as she was thrown against the wall again. Her claws came loose, and she was sent skidding across the cement floor.

"Blasted bees, their claws, my head. Little bumble _-bee! Hee-Hee_! Come here, let me _SQUASH_ YOU!" the mad tom yowled, lunging at her fallen form. His ragged claws sliced down her shoulder, knocking her back. Her body slammed into the form of her youngest kit, flinging him back against the wall. As As Liddy tried to stand up, her fuzzy, acheing brain registered a wiggle beneath her, and a shadow falling across their forms.

Light was trapped beneath her, and Riverstep was looming over her. She was merely a meat shield between them.

"Little bug. _Quit_ stinging me!" the maine coon yowled, lunging down at her. Blood sprayed the morning air.

Light shivered in the dark, his siblings pressed close around him. The older two toms looking down at the bloody kitten with concern and fear. Light, usually a chatterbox, had been absolutely silent since Liddy's death. In truth, all of them had been silent, but Light seemed to have shut down completely. He didn't react when his siblings tried to warm him, clean him, of give him a scrap of food they had found.

His green eyes were dull and dead. Thorn and Shadow both feared for their sibling. Liddy had told them stories of how kits would see scary things, and be silenced for the rest of their life.

"Light," Thorn began, "Please say something."

The white and gold kit didn't react, sitting more still than a stone. The elder kits felt their hopes sinking.

"…. Mama..." a small voice escaped the white kit.


End file.
